A Game of Dice
by insanelaughtler
Summary: America knows that he's Zero, as that's usually the number he roles. As for One through Five, he's landed on them on the occasion… He was terrified to let them out. But, as he fingered the die in his hand, he wondered if he should role another number.
1. Chapter 1

**ALERT ALL PAST READERS! THIS CHAPTER WAS REVISED AND HOLDS SOME DETAIL THAT WILL BE NEEDED FOR LATER ON. THANKS YOU AND READ PLEASE. YOU TOO NEW READERS.**

I'm sorry for being annoying.

* * *

Everyone knows that America almost always wears a bomber jacket. He always seems to be wearing it, almost like Russia and his scarf, not anyone said that comparison aloud.

Everyone also knows that there is a near endless supply of hamburgers, sodas, and various other junk foods in that jacket. Enough to survive on a deserted island as China not-so-fondly remembers. Rumor has it the alien, Tony, has something to do with it.

A few less people know that he is always carrying a map of his states with him in the left pocket. The printed words are barely legible underneath the various scribbles and notes that cover it.

Not many people know that he carries his own flag in a hidden back pocket. Italy knows, though, for once when he ran out of white flags America offered his. Never before had Germany and Romano been so horrified to see the other Italian covered in America's colors.

Only Canada and Russia know that he is always carrying at least two guns and knives on his person. Russia knows because America used them on him once. Canada because he was there; sometimes he still wonders if America keeps the small vials of poison in the fake-fur lined collar.

And nobody, excluding America of course, knows that he keeps a single little die in a hidden pocket on his right sleeve.

The die is almost entirely obsidian black except for the sky blue dots on five of its sides; on the sixth side it is completely blue without any other marking. Instead of being numbered from one through six, though, the die is numbered from zero to five. Completely smooth, always a degree above freezing, and surprisingly heavy for its tiny size, it makes for a strange object. One part of it, though, isn't as smooth as the rest, for a ragged crack ran diagonally down the side with only one dot. If one looks close enough, at the right time, and from the corner of their eyes they might notice a faint bluish green light emitting from the crack.

Sometimes America fingers the die, running his hand over the ever so slightly indented dots, pausing at the crack and then running his thumb over the blank side. And every time he did so he would wince.

Alfred knows that he's Zero, as that's usually the number he roles every time that adrenaline from the risk of gamble runs through him. As for One through Five, he's landed on them on the occasion…

And he watches the other nations, all whom he cares for very much regardless of their feelings towards him, insult him over and over and over again.

He takes it all in stride, because he's a nice person who doesn't want them to feel bad about themselves. But each time they sneer, or mock, or laugh at him he wants to laugh right back at them. Or roll his eyes, or scream, or maybe even break something. He just wants to tell them-

_Do you know what I do for you? Do you know what I gave up for you? Do you know how painful it was, it still is, to choose you over them?_

_Do you know how hard it is to close my eyes and see them when I betrayed them?_

_Do you know how hard it is to be trapped here forever?_

But it's okay, he tells himself, its okay that maybe it's my fault.

And they were monsters, anyway, monsters that could destroy the world if he had chosen them.

_But who made them this way?_

He can't let them loose because they are terrible, even if they love him, but the other nations don't deserve it without warning. Maybe not at all. But the die's cracking and he can't take it anymore and it seems so easy to let them loose, because he doesn't want them to be trapped anymore. Who was he to deny freedom when everything he did was for it?

And maybe life like this wasn't worth living, for any of them.

"You arrogant git!"

"Tue es stupide, Amérique!"

"Pay your bills already, you idiot, aru!"

"Maybe it's because he's so overweight, da?"

He wants it to stop, but he's afraid to say anything because he doesn't know what will come out of his mouth, or worse, what he might do.

And he can hear the others.

_Why don't you set them straight, Al? You don't have to deal with this._

One…

_I agree with One and Three. But if anything happens… I like Five's idea, Alfie. You would do well to follow his advice._

Two…

_Keep watch over them, they are proving how weak they are, Zero. Remember, an attack is best given swift and fatal. A relentless bombardment is always an option, of course, but not only does it waste time and resources, but it gives the defendant a chance to analyze all moves and tactics. This goes the same for verbal abuse._

Three…

_Why they so mean, Alfie? It hurt you. Why you no hurt back? Fourey worried for you. If you hurt Fourey will hurt back, okay?_

Four…

_I say for you to nuke them. Maybe another A-bomb will set them straight again, the idiots. Why don't you, little Alfie? Too scared?_

And dear old Five…

He was terrified to let them out.

But, as he fingered the die in his hand, he wondered if he should role another number.

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**Hmm... I'm wondering whether or not to continue this... Is it to cliche? I really don't want to copy the fic "The Four Faces of America" which, by the way, has a very good plot. **

**Ah, well, feed back would be nice if you're willing.**


	2. Chapter 1, part 2

Chapter 1

Was it really only half an hour into the meeting? America groaned, slamming his head onto the desk.

_Actually it's only 27 minutes._ One said.

_Now 28._ Two spoke up.

You're making me feel worse, he thought.

_That's my job!_ Five exclaimed. He really was a sweetheart.

_Don't call me that again, Zero! By the way, that Brit's going to chew you out for not paying attention again in about a second. Are you sure you don't want me to deal with him?_

No, you'd probably just tear his mouth off, Alfred thought back to him.

_Why don't you just sh- You know what, point taken._

_Oh my gosh! Five saw reason! The world's going to end!_

_One, I will cut you._

_You threatened to shoot me last time._

_That too._

_You know you love me._

_Shut up._

He grinned, Five may be a psycho-

_Mass murderer._

_Serial killer._

_Absolute sadist._

_Fourey!_

_I'll take those as compliments, people._

To others, but he had a soft spot for the rest of them.

_Shut up._

"America! Wake up, you git! Can't you possibly even _try _to listen to other peoples' presentations? We all know that you only like to listen to your own voice, but this is beyond rude! I thought I raised you better!" England whacked the back of his head.

America sighed into his arms, his former caretaker-

_Now tormentor._

_I don't think that he ever got into his head that he's not in charge of you anymore._

_I agree with Two, he's too sentimental._

_He big meanie!_

_I still say that it's a onesided crush._

Was giving his usual 'where did I go wrong' speech. It happened every time they saw each other. Alfred was beginning to-

_Hate?_

_Loathe?_

_Abhor?_

_No likey?_

_Want to gorge out his eyes?_

Develop a certain dislike to seeing him.

Alfred got up and put back on his ever cracking mask.

"HAHAHAHA! Why should I have to listen to other people? We all know that the HERO is the best!" He wills his smile not the crack as he sees everyone else roll their eyes or sneer at him. They never even hid their hatred of him.

And it hurt him.

_Understatement of the century, Al._

"Shut up, you idiot. Germany's presenting," With that England turned away and ignored him.

_I still say we gorge out his eyes, who's with me?_

_I do._

_Knew you'd see my way, Two. Anyone else? Three? One?_

_Gorging his eyes out is not going to help the problem, Five._

_I should really stop asking you. How about Three?_

_I believe that psychotic torture will get your point across better._

_He'll be blind, what else do you need?_

_Point taken._

Guys, I don't want to hurt him, Alfred thought. Even though maybe a tiny part of him maybe wanted to. Because he was hurting so much.

And he knows that he doesn't have to deal with this. After all, he isn't the only personification of his country. He was just one of six, albeit, the strongest of the six, but just one of them nonetheless.

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**This story will have a lot of speaking or, in this case, thinking to start out with because, if you haven't noticed, our dear old Alfred has five voices in his head. Each of which can get into arguments with one another.**

**To clear up some confusion, generally they talk in the order of 1-5 unless they are conversing with each other or Alfred.**

**I'll try to continue this story but it's taking a back seat to my other story.**


	3. One

**One**

"Alright! We'll take a two hour lunch break! I expect you all to be here at 2 o'clock, no later! Dismissed!" Germany shouted from the head of the table.

All the countries sighed in relief and began to head towards the door in groups. Sometimes they'd stop to admit another into their company before setting off once more.

The Bad Touch Trio were all together, as usual. Only today Romano decided to join, if only to yell at Spain.

China was running from an energetic South Korea who was followed by a much more calm Japan, Taiwan, and Hong Kong who were discussing something in another language.

Italy had decided, once again, to latch onto a frustrated Germany attempting to gather his papers.

England was storming out of the room, holding the ever cheerful Sealand in one hand.

Hungary and Austria were holding a conversation with a less irritable than usual Switzerland and the diplomatic Liechtenstein.

Canada was laughing over some joke with Ukraine and Cuba. They were swiftly pushed aside as a certain Russian came running by, evidently from the certain Belorussian behind him.

As for America, he was alone again.

_We're still here!_

_…Yeah…_

_I apologize to leave at this time, but I need to get some things done with Two. I assume that Five is also coming and bring Four._

_Fourey! _

_Your 'assumptions' are more like commands, you know._

It's fine, guys, America thought back to them, I'll be alright.

He could see, in his mind's eye, Five looking at him curiously.

_Stay out of trouble, _Alfie_. _

I will.

_Once again, I would stay if it were not important. I apologize again, Zero._

It's fine really, he tried to sound happy, but as it was his thoughts, he could not manage that feat.

_Say your goodbyes, boys._

_Bya Alfie!_

_See you._

With that, Three, Four, and Two, respectively, left his mind to who knows where.

_I'll be seeing you._

Five left as well.

_Well that leaves you and me!_

Yipee! Alfred sighed.

_I'm getting a sense that you don't want to be around me. Like sarcasm…. Was that sarcasm?_

He tried to grin, it came out weakly. No, he thought, I'm just frustrated with my life.

One didn't say anything so America got up and pushed in his chair. He wanted to get out of this stuffy building and go to McDonalds. Alfred ate to get his mind of his problems and worries and feelings of emptiness. All these feelings plagued him consistently day in and day out, resulting in him always eating. One would think that he was obese by now.

But, despite what other nations may say, America was far from fat. He actually was very well toned. All the 'fat' the other nations see was really his bulging muscle. Sure, a third of his populations were obese and overweight, but _all_ of his people were obsessed with image, resulting in him being model perfect.

_Puh-lease. If you want to see perfect, look at me._

You know, Alfred thought, we are identical.

_Still!_ Visions of himself in posing suddenly flooded his mind.

One! Stop it!

_Sheesh… Fine…_

As the young nation opened the doors to leave the room, he chuckled to himself. One was really a wacky person. It was hard to see the difference between One and himself at times. Still, they had obvious differences.

One was the nicest of the bunch, but that wasn't saying too much at times. Most of the time, however, he could keep the others from getting too violent. Emphasis on _too._ Even though he didn't often act like it, One had a strange-

_I prefer unique._

-View of the world.

_Hey! Have you seen inside Five's mind? That's Hell, right there!_

As Alfred walked down the hall, he passed a mirror, his reflection walked alongside him, but it was different. It wasn't wearing his bomber jacket but rather a light green sleeveless tee-shirt and jeans. The reflection wasn't wearing glasses and its eyes were a greenish-blue.

_Checking me out, handsome?_

Shut up.

Even so, he turned towards the mirror and his reflection turned towards him. Then the reflection, without Alfred moving, turned to him and leaned against the mirror. It braced himself with his arms above his head and stared directly into Alfred's eyes.

_Cheer up, Al! Don't let these losers get to you!_

America quirked a smile, I'll try.

_No! Try not! Do or do not. There is no try._

Yoda, Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back, Alfred thought quickly. Were you even trying with that one?

_Nah, just felt like saying it. Still, point for you._

What does that make it now?

_73-64, me._

I still say that we're not allowed to use quotes from books.

_Harry Potter is awesome. Period._

Fine…

_I knew you'd see it my way._

Is that a quote?

_I'm not sure…_

I'm pretty sure it's a quote.

_Me too._

Tie?

_Tie._

Alfred continued walking and in the mirror One walked alongside him. More like skipped. One was weird that way.

"I'm hungry," Alfred murmured aloud, putting a hand above his grumbling stomach.

_Argh, you're making me hungry too. Stop being hungry!_

"I'm trying not to!"

_What did I say about trying?_

"You shush."

He made his way outside to Micky D's, with One babbling in his head all the way, feeling slightly better. He put the dice back into the hidden pocket on his right sleeve. Hopefully he wouldn't have to use it. Unfortunately Fate was never on his side.

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**Okay, introducing One here. I wanted to introduce Alfred's other personalities before introducing them to the nations in this story because they act differently towards the nations as opposed to Alfred.**

**Also, as you noticed, America's reflection takes on the appearance of the personality he is talking to. I'm trying to make up my mind whether other nations see it too or if it's all in his head. I like the former, but can you tell me what you think?**

**Please review.**


	4. Two

**Two**

Remind me why you made me go out to get tacos? Alfred rubbed his temples while dutifully eating the taco he had ordered twenty minutes previously.

_Because you made me hungry and I felt like tacos. We are NOT getting hamburgers again._

"Why not?" America whined out loud, causing several people to turn around and look at him. Fortunately for him –or them- it looked like he was talking on the phone because of the position of his hand.

_I only don't like hamburgers from fast food places._

"Meanie."

_Hey!_

"It's true."

_No it's not!_

"Yes it is."

_No it's not!_

"Yes it is."

_No it's not!_

"Yes it is."

_It really isn't_.

A new voice came in.

"AAAAAHHHHHH!" Alfred screamed in shock, making several other people cry out in alarm before glaring at him.

_Hey! Two! When did you get here?_

_About twenty minutes ago._

"And you didn't tell us until now?!" Alfred yelled. People were starting to notice that he wasn't talking on a phone as he was flinging his arms about, wildly.

_I didn't think it was important._

_So you were listening in on our conversation for twenty minutes?_

_Uh-huh._

_And didn't decide to notify us that you were here at all?_

_Pretty much._

_…_

_…_

_So what's Three doing?_

"HE JUST COMPLETELY SCARED US OUT OF OUR WITS AND YOU'RE ASKING-"

Ten minutes later, after America was escorted out of the restaurant, they got back on topic.

_So, what's Three doing?_

_The usual, storing information and organizing around the house. That sort of stuff._

The 'house' was the area that the other personalities seemed to live in. Alfred's been in it several times when he rolled the dice to another number. And maybe he should regret rolling it and he did, but didn't really.

_Oh, yeah, Three wants you for something as well, One._

_Aw, but I was having fun with Al!_

_What Three wants…_

_…Three gets… Fine, gotta go, see you Alfs._

Bye, he mentally sighed. One left his mind.

"That leaves you and me, Two."

_So it does_.

There was a silence.

Do you want to talk or something?

_Not particularly._

Okay…

Man, he really should have charged his iPod…

Trying to shrug off the increasing feeling of awkwardness, America headed back towards the building for the meeting.

_Take the route near the river._

Sure…

Going a little of course, Alfred took the path next to the river. The scenery was okay, they were in a city after all. He glanced into the water near him and his reflection stared back up at him. Of course, it wasn't his reflection, but Two's.

Two was wearing one of those fashionable leather vests and designer pants. Blue eyes streaked outwards with a piercing yellow bore into his sky-blue ones.

The biggest difference between them, besides the eye color, was that Two's face is, has been, and will always be unreadable. It matched his personality perfectly.

Two was… Hard to read. He seems to like to confuse people. In fact, in all the years of knowing him, Alfred could only figure out several things about him. He had a fondness for the Arts and may or may not be slightly perverted. He's also passive-aggressive.

_I do enjoy people not staring at me._

Right, sorry.

They continued walking to the building in the awkward silence, well awkward for America, Two was probably fine with it. He headed back towards the meeting room once inside, there really wasn't anything to do.

_Hide._

Mindlessly obeying the command, Alfred slipped into the nearest room. Two people deep in conversation seemed to be approaching from outside. Prussia and France.

"… Yeah, well, he'll never know until it happens."

"And what if Mademoiselle Hungary finds out before then?"

"My awesomeness can defeat her!"

"Mon ami, might I remind you that she's beaten you at least a thousand times before?"

"I can't hear you over the sound of my awesomeness!"

"Ce que c'est que ? (What is that?) Did you hear something?"

"My awesomeness, of course!"

"No really, I swear that I saw America just now."

_Don't go out._

America stayed in the room despite his confusion over the command.

"You're seeing things. The idiot is probably stuffing his face at a fast food joint somewhere."

America stiffened as they laughed.

"Ah, as if he is not fat enough already. Honestly, he should be bordering on obese by now."

"I think that he passed that line quite a while ago."

As the two obliviously laughed in the hall, America's hand strayed toward his stomach, feeling imaginary flabs of fat instead of the abs that were really there.

_You could shut them up._

He doesn't say anything back to Two.

_There's two guns on you, one for each._

The nations were already heading down the hall, their backs were probably turned to him.

_Nobody will see you and even if they told, who would believe them?_

His hand shook on the door knob.

_After all, they do believe that you are an overweight moron, why not correct them?_

The door opened.

_It's not like they're going to die._

He slammed the door shut and leaned against it. This was the reason why he couldn't let them out.

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**Two is hard to write. He's really weird.**

**Okay, fact time. I have five alter egos, all stemming from true personality. My real personality is really contradicting. In the words of my fiends, "You are almost completely predictable, but I can never, ever tell what's going on in your mind." That might explain it. My alter-egos are actually numbered 1-5, with names of course, not that I'll mention them.**

**So, since I am female and America is male, obviously, his other personalities might act a little feminine now and then since they are directly based off my own personalities.**

**To clear confusion, I do not have multiple personalities. It's just fun to play around with alter egos.**

**Please review.**


	5. Three

**Three**

America sat in a chair in the same empty room that he hid in. Now he was clutching his head trying to clear his thoughts. Two had been silent since they left.

_Hmm… I seemed to have come at the wrong time._

Three.

In some corner of his mind he could see Three giving him his signature freezing cold smile.

_So I am, would you give me the courtesy of informing this lowly creature of your ailment?_

Before America could do anything, Two sent the memories of what had just happened to Three.

_I see. I suppose that this is bothering you, Zero._

You think? America rolled his eyes.

_Manners, my friend. Though I feel sympathy for you, what had transpired, keeping quiet was the most logical course of action. Revealing an intellectual or even violent side of your personality can unravel this secret of yours that has been kept for the last two hundred years._

Gee, I feel so much better.

An image of Three's ice cold eyes seared across his mind. _I have no intent on comforting you and your childish moping. _

Thanks for the sympathy.

_My job is purely to deal with hard fact and logic, neither of which calls for unneeded emotions or feelings._

America said nothing, instead sinking his head into his arms. He could hear a sigh inside his mind and felt Three's demeanor soften.

_It's not that I don't care for you, Zero, I truly do. However, emotions were never a hardwired factor in my mental format._

I know, Alfred sighed. Three's job required minimum emotions as feelings could get in the way of logic. As none of the others could handle cutting off feeling towards people and the world, it fell to Three to do that. And he could do it well, even if he come off as an uncaring jerk.

_Watch your tongue, Mister Jones._

Scratch that, a fancy worded and deceivingly polite jerk.

_Once you can adopt a more sophisticated vocabulary I'll allow you to insult me, until then hold your tongue._

_Hmm, I'll go check on the others…_ Two's voice faded in and out of the conversation.

_Be sure that Five does not corrupt Four, and I should hope that you will not twist his ways yourself._

_I'll try._

Two left.

We should never leave those three alone, no pun intended, Alfred thought.

_Agreed, my friend._

Are you going as well?

_Not yet. I have several matters of which to attend with your presence. Please perform for me the favor of retrieving your suitcase._

Do you always have to use such big words when it's just us two? America groaned as he sluggishly got off the seat and headed towards the meeting room.

_Must you consistently insist on using such commonplace and asinine words should it even be in confabulation?_

You did that on purpose.

Three didn't dignify him with a response until Alfred had entered the meeting room and found his place and suitcase.

_Perhaps I did. Please open the suitcase's smaller compartment._

Sure, why?

_Third pocket on the right. There's only one item in there._

Alfred reached in and pulled out a… Bluetooth headphone?

Um, two questions. One, why do I need this? And two, how did that get in there?

_To answer your second question, I had you pack it._

What?

_Do not interrupt me. The answer to your first question is that others who do not possess multiple souls in their bodies cannot begin to comprehend why one who seems to be akin to them would be seemingly conversing with himself._

…What?

_Must I forever simplify the luminosity of my habitual vocabulary to appease the lesser minds of the miserable souls forever surrounding me?_

You're doing it again.

_In your language: People think that you're insane if you're talking to yourself. Simple enough?_

I'm going to ignore that jibe. But how did you get this- the 'this' he waved in front of him- into my bag without me knowing?

_It was near midnight and you're conscience was weak enough to allow me a minute timeframe to slip in an object of use to you._

So you pretty much just took over my body when I wasn't aware.

_If that is the way you phrase it, then yes._

You are a meanie.

_I will not contravene nor corroborate that statement._

"~Ve! America! Why are you back so early?" An Italian voice floated towards him. The speaker was followed by a certain German.

The meeting had begun once more.

* * *

The meeting was boring, very boring. Just like all the other meetings. Of course, having Three around made it more interesting in a way.

_It is not my concern should you be enjoying yourself or not._

Three would always point out strengths and weaknesses of the other nations by the way that they act, speak, and interact with other nations.

_I commend you on correctly using the word 'interact.'_

Thank you. Three pointed out subtle things that most never see. How their voices would follow patterns and how they often they take in their surroundings and whether or not they hesitate in doing something. As interesting and enlightening-

_Gratifying word choice._

-It was to hear all realize all these things about the nations that he had never known, it gave America the uneasy sense of being in a silent war. And he wouldn't be surprised if Three was preparing for one.

Three was a genius. He was highly intelligent and indifferent and cruel. He was the leader of the rest and held a strong influence over Alfred himself. But sometimes Alfred didn't agree with his tactics.

After all, emotions rarely controlled him and, by default, neither did morals.

_My actions are controlled by necessity, logic, and duty, in whichever order. Feelings must be kept to a minimum to keep my priorities. _

But Three did care for Zero and the others. In a way.

"America!" Oh, no, he must have phased out. If he was lucky then they were only trying to wake him up for the last ten minutes, maximum.

"You dummkopf! Wake up!" Germany, at least it wasn't England or Russia.

"Huh? What?" He awoke groggily-

_Disconcerted._

-whatevs, to the world.

"Welcome back to the world of the living," Germany sarcastically remarked, "Did you even hear _any_ of China's presentation?"

"Um…"

"You idiot," Germany turned away from him, probably just giving up.

America didn't miss the disgusted looks thrown his way.

_You should increase the amount of attention you enclose during meetings to decrease the likely hood of this repeating itself._

Ashamed at himself and thoroughly annoyed, America lashed out at Three.

You were paying attention! Couldn't you have helped me?

_No, I could not._

Why not?!

_Look at me._

Alfred just snarled at him.

_Zero, I will not repeat this again, look at me. What I want…_

…You get. That was the first rule in dealing with Three, so America grudgingly complied. He closed his eyes and concentrated on the darkness that fell. He could see Three.

Three always wore impeccable dress suits, tuxedos, or at the very least casual-professional/fancy clothes. Today he wore a black and white three piece suit with a dark blue tie. Behind the smart-looking steel rimmed glasses stood icy blue eyes that bore into his own. Unlike America's sky blue eyes, the blue of this once resembled more of a white then blue. Kind of like snow reflecting the sky. Sometimes, at certain angles, America could swear that his entire eye turns pure white. It was creepy in the least.

I see you, he thought, trying to match the gaze of the icy eyes and probably failing.

_Both you and I know the reason for keeping the existence of the others and me as well as your actual intelligence a close-guarded secret. Should any find that you are instable in their eyes or find that all of us may or may not be a threat, we could have a meaningless war on our hands born of purely fear. Considering how Two and Five acts, or even Four and myself, they could very well have a reason to start a war._

And I should care why? We all know that Five can easily win any war. But, even as he said it, he knew that he could never let that happen.

_You know very well the strategies Five uses to win wars. You also have concern-_ At this Three's eyes possibly became even colder for a moment-_ for the other nations whether or not you admit it._

America grimaced, I'm cracking, Three. I don't know how much longer I can hold you guys off.

_The ideal time would be forever, however I wait in abated anticipation of the day I may come into the world. Considering that it will be a near miracle if you can contain the others and myself for another year, much less two centuries._

America opened his eyes and ceased his concentration. He fingered the die through the hidden pocket.

I know.

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**Wow, I had to use the thesaurus many times for Three. Actually, I can talk like Three in real life- remember those alter egos?- but it takes a lot longer to come up with a sentence. Challenge: Try talking like Three for an hour.**

**This chapter is about double the length of my other chapters on here. Wow. But it is actually pretty fun to write Three. **

**I made Three and everyone else a guy because of some personal matters. I don't usually like OCs and here I am writing FIVE myself. I am such a hypocrite. Also, I generally don't like female OCs because they often turn out as Mary Sues, no offense everyone. So I won't be writing a female OC, even if the male OC turns out as a Gary Sue or something like that. I once again apologize.**

**To Upsilon Forty-Two, I hope you don't mind that I used your idea about the bluetooth earbuds. I'm sorry for not asking permission.**

**And finally, a question. Should I write Four as younger than America? His personality is extremely childish, but the creepiness can be upped if he has the body of an adult. I'm not sure. Any help?**

**Please review and sorry about the long Author's note.**


	6. Four

**Four**

The meeting ended. Finally.

America ran out of the room. He didn't want to see himself be left alone again.

Three had been silent for a while, probably calculating some complex mental equation or something.

_'Or something' if phrased by yourself._

'Or something' it was.

He reached the front doors of the building, looking out the window. It was raining. Oh, well, he could just stand the rain a bit to hail taxi or something.

_THWEE-EEE! _

Holding his head from the sudden noise he yell-

_Use the Bluetooth,_ Three snapped.

Now holding his ear piece, he yelled, "FOUR! STOP YELLING!"

_But-but-but- Fourey sorwy! Fourey no mean bad! Alfie mad at Fourey! _ Four wailed.

America sighed, "I didn't mean to yell at you. You just shocked me, that's all."

_WAAAAHHHH!_

"Four, I'm not mad at you," Alfred sighed again.

Four sniffed, _You no mad at Fourey?_'

"I'm not, I'm really not."

_Yay! Fourey wantee to see Zerry!_

"It's nice to see you too," America gave a light-hearted smile.

_And you too, Thwee._

America mentally saw Three take a deep breath before giving a the most not cruel or cold smile he could muster. Which came out as an odd but even more oddly professional looking cross between a grimace and a sneer.

_Greetings, Four. I plead to the divine beings that my beloved Five and Two have not yet succeeded in their unconscious mission to corrupt you with their innately nefarious idiosyncrasies_

_Fourey no get._

Alfred scratched his head, "Yeah, I'm drawing a bit of a blank as well."

Three took another deep breath, _Did Five and Two make you dark and twisted yet?_

The two other personalities smiled at finally being able to understand.

_Nopee, Fourey still Fourey!_

_That is wonderful, my brother of soul._

Smiling America was reminded that though Three was an emotionless, indifferent, and cruel jerk-

_Sadistic, rapacious, fallacious…_

He still cared and loved the other personalities.

_Correction: I am deeply concerned over your well being and have feelings of compassion when you are upset._

Same difference.

_You no love Fourey?_ Four was beginning to get teary.

_It is not that I-_

_You no love Fourey?!_

_I-_

Fourey sniffed.

_I… love… you, Four._

_Yay!_

Four was a child. He couldn't tell right from wrong and only wished to make those who cared for him happy. So that meant Three and the others. But Four always had a dark side, not that it appeared often.

Three and America shared a mental glance.

I heard reluctance in the 'L' word, America teased.

_I find it extremely commonplace, overused to the point of lack of meaning._

"Harsh, that's harsh," Three gave him an exasperated, but still professional, look.

_This is where I will bid my farewell for the moment,_ Three stated, _I must organize the information I have recently gathered at the house. Four, will you accompany me?_

_But Fourey wanna see Alfie!_

_Understood. Do not contract a case of hypothermia._

Three vanished from his mind.

_Alfie? Whatty hwyopwothermy?_

"Kinda like a cold, he was warning us because we'll be going into the rain."

_But Fourey like wain!_

America chuckled and went outside. Rain pelted his body and began to soak him. However, both he and Four were childish so the rain also provided a feeling ecstasy. Naturally, being Alfred, started to run around, finding puddles to jump in. Four laughed alongside him as they splashed down the street.

Alfred could see a flickering image of Four in the rain. Four was quite possibly the personality that looked least like him. For some reason Four looked younger than the rest of them. They all measured to identical heights and looks, but something about Four just seemed… Off… Maybe it was the way he held himself, with his head tilted to the side like a curious child or the way he couldn't stand still and just bounced around. Four was just like a child and it came out in appearance.

_Is be child bad?_

No, it's fine.

_That good!_

_Four's eyes gleamed from the flickering reflection. _Like One, Four didn't wear glasses and, like all of them, his eyes were a different color. If not for the innocent and childish look that could easily be seen, Four's eyes would be crueler than Three's silvery bluish white eyes, stranger than Two's yellow streaked eyes and scarier than Five's bloodcurdling freaking _orbs_ of eyes.

_Fourey thinks Fivey haver pwetty eyes._

Correction: Five's eyes are okay when they aren't imagining every way to slowly torture you to death.

_Huh?_

Never mind. Four's eyes were America's bright sky blue's, but they were streaked with blood red starting from the pupil and expanding outwards on the iris. The two colors clashed in an entrancing way and the gleam the eyes gave off seemed almost maniacal. Heck, sometimes it was maniacal.

_Fourey wanna play, Alfie!_

Four laughed and his shimmering reflection through the rain drops rain away from America in a game of tag. They ran together in the, in Three's words, immature game up and down the blocks. Twenty minutes later they were soaked to the bone, couldn't feel their digits or faces, but were still laughing like the crazy people they were and trying to find their way back to America's apartment.

_Achooey!_ Four sneezed at the very same time as America.

"I think we caught hypothermia," America stated.

_Fourey and Zerry catch hwypwothermy?_

Either that or someone is talking about us behind our backs.

_Huh?_

Asian culture, never mind.

_You Asian? _

A good percentage of our population is… And I've been reading too much fanfiction.

_Fannyfic?_

It's- "Achoo!"

_Alfie, is- Achooey!_ Four sniffed a bit before continuing. _Is Thwee-ee now be mad at us?_

America's eyes widened before-

"Damn it."

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**Argh, hate this chapter. It's hard to write Four without using him directly with a plot. And Three takes up more than half of this chapter... What can I say? Three's my favorite.**

**Prediction time. I predict that by the end of this fanfic, if any of you get there, most of you will hate Five and Three, a good amount will hate or at least be disgusted with Four, and people will be trying to figure out Two. One's simple enough.**

**Also, I'm taking a two week to a month break except for my RP(s). Hope to see you soon.**


	7. Five

**Five**

"Achoo!"

_Achooey!_

"Achoo!"

_Achooey!_

"Achoo!"

_Achooey!_

"Achoo!"

_Achooey!_

America paced back and forth in his apartment, sneezing with every third step.

"Achoo!"

_Achooey!_

Four kept sneezing with him.

_Zerry? Achooey! Thwee go be mad now._

I know.

_Fourey no want go home._

I wouldn't.

_Now what?_

I don't know.

Suddenly another presence slammed into his mind, giving America a headache to round up his hypothermia.

_Hey, Zero!_

"Achoo! What is it, Five?" Alfred asked, annoyed.

_Oh, my. Where have your manners gone?_ Five mocked; a sneer on his face.

_Hiyee Fivey!_

The sneer was replaced by a cold sort of smile. Sort of like how Three looks when he's trying not to look bad for Four, _Hello, Four. _

_Why you here?_

_Three sent me, why else? He wants you back at the house._

_Um- achooey!_

_You got hypothermia, didn't you?_

_No…_

_Alfred?_

Sheepishly, America scratched the back of his head, "Um, about that…"

Five facepalmed. _Just- just go home, Four. _

_But Thwee be mad soon!_

_Better now than later._

_But…_

_He's only going to get angrier._

_Okeet… Bye-bye Alfie, bye Fivey…_

"See you, Four."

_Hurry up!_

Four left his mind.

"You never give a proper goodbye, do you?"

_Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute; you do _not_ use the word 'proper.' We do _not_ need another limey on our hands._

"Five…"

_Do you have something to say?_

"No…"

His headache worsened as Five's eyes mentally bore into him. Five's eyes were creepy. They were a midnight blue, bordering on black, and seemed to lack pupils like Three's. The whites of his eyes also looked a little too white, almost glowing compared to the blue-black vortex they contained. A vortex of psychopathic insanity as One and him like to put it.

Five cracked a grin at him, a twisted look of undefined mirth spreading across his face, _You wanna do something?_

"Like what?"

_Why are you asking me?_

"Because you- You know what, never mind. Let's go play Call of Duty or something…"

_Black Ops._

"Sure."

Five was really good at gaming, better than One and rivaling even America. However, Five's area of expertise in the gaming world was strictly to graphic games about zombies, war, gunning, assassinating, basically anything with killing, and, surprisingly, the Sims. Alfred never understood that one, but after the forty-fifth generation became the fifth legacy of the musician career path he gave up trying to understand.

All of his different personalities shouldn't be able to be compatible at all, but somehow they worked.

One was the big-hearted teen weirdo who always wants the best for his loved ones.

Two was silent and strange, he wasn't very compatible with anybody who followed society norms.

Three was cold and intelligent, a smart combination but definitely not a kind one.

Four was forever stuck in a childish mentality, distant but forced to interact with the world.

And then there was Five. Five was a psychopath half of a time, a killer a quarter, and the body guard of the others for the rest. It all tied in, really. Alfred couldn't really tell if Five loved or hated him.

_He's on your left! Shoot him!_

"I'm trying! I'm trying!"

_Stop musing about my Sims! Just go!_

"I heard you, shut up, I'm trying to concentrate!"

_Oh look, you were too slow._

"Well I'm _sor_-"

_There's another one! Get 'em! Get 'em!_

"Just let me-"

Suddenly America felt an odd lurching sensation and for some reason it seemed like the world was suddenly put behind a window or a type of high-def screen. As he watched, his hands worked of their own accord to effectively knife the man Five had been pointing to before sniping all the others below him.

For a second Alfred was interested in seeing how Five was able to effectively kill everyone in sight without being caught, silencers are awesome, before it hit him.

Five was able to take control of him.

_Oh my double fushizzle._

Nearly screaming with alarm he quickly wrestled control back from the other personification. It was harder than he expected but still easy enough to be done quickly.

Breathing hard he stared unseeingly at the screen where his character was being blown up.

From back _inside_ his mind Five complained, _Come on! I was just about to beat our highest kill streak!_

America nearly screamed at him to understand the situation, "Shut up about the game! Did you realize what you just did?"

_What do you- oh._

He could see a moment of confusion pass Five's face before the dark orbs grew even darker and a maniacal grin split his face.

_Things just got interesting._

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**Okay, the real story starts next chapter now that the intros are done! Sorry that Five isn't the complete psycho that most of you expected him to be. In all truth, he's probably the character with the most depth that I created. He IS insane and cruel, it just doesn't come out as often when he's with the others. I feel really sorry for the country I had face his wraith...**

**Also, I need some help here. I need to find a country who first discovers the other personalities but nobody believes. It can't be Canada or Russia as that would interfere with the plot, any ideas? **


	8. Mental Meeting

**Mental Meetings**

Alfred was in shock over the incident that just occurred a minute ago. This wasn't good, this wasn't good at all.

Since forever, the other personifications of America, who were his other personalities, could only take control when he allowed them to or rolled the dice he always kept on him. Usually both.

Bad things happened when they were out, very bad.

And maybe it was his fault for letting them out.

Lately, he knew, Three had found ways to quickly slip pass him and into control for a couple seconds at night when he was slipping in between conscious and unconscious. Sometimes Two would make him use different spices or methods while cooking…

But this- this was bad, very bad. If they could start taking control over him whenever they wanted to… that wasn't good.

They held grudges.

Five still wasn't over the Cold War.

Four was still upset about 1812.

Three wouldn't hesitate murder anyone negatively connected with 9/11.

Two… he's Two…

And One was pretty disgruntled with all the recent wars…

The Civil War was painful to remember. The argument between Alfred and _him_ had got so…

He could see Five still grinning at him.

_Chill, dude, seriously. We're not going to kill you._

Yeah, but you guys would probably kill the rest of the world.

He shrugged. _I'm not denying anything. You know what? The problem is that you're too attached to them. And let's face it, how many of them really care about you?_

Alfred hesitates, but not for long. Matthew cares, he's my brother.

The dark blue orbs of eyes just sparkled maliciously at him while he folded his arms on his chest, _Oh really? So that's why he has double standards, and always turns his back on you, and that's why he listed off all your faults for three freaking hours._

Shut up. But the hesitation is longer this time.

Five was about to retort when somebody else entered Alfred's mind.

_What are you doing here, One?_

One seemed wary of the tension between the two and nervously looked at them both. Five sighed and stepped back, gesturing for him to speak.

_Three's calling a meeting at the house… He saw what happened…_ He shuffled nervously. _We should get there soon, like, now soon._

Five gave America a hard, but not specifically unkind, look and then left his mind while coldly saying, _Fine, I'm leaving._

One looked at America but America couldn't look him in the eye.

_…Now what?_

I don't know…

_This really isn't good._

America took a deep breath and slowly released it. We should go soon, Three's probably mad enough as it is…

_Yeah, see you soon._

One left quietly, just as he came in. Now that he was alone America let out a little wail of despair, this was becoming a nightmare. He loved the other personifications of America, he really did, but it was dangerous to let them loose, especially around the other nations.

They were monsters, they could kill and couldn't be killed.

America lied down on the couch behind him, closing his eyes. He had a meeting to go to.

* * *

"You're late."

Three glared at him with those cold, cold snowy blue eyes, he instinctively cringed backwards from the coldness radiating off of him. Light flashed off the silvery eyes and for a second the pupils disappeared.

"I'm sorry," Alfred mumbled.

"Speak up."

"I apologize for my tardy arrival," He spoke, voice clear, carrying, and commanding. On the inside he winces slightly, it's been a long time since he used that voice.

Three nods once at him and motions for him to sit.

He walks into the shapeless, dark room of the house. He can see all the other personalities sitting in the darkness. They looked as if they were in light, but the empty blackness surrounding them tells otherwise. As he strides in the darkness begins to form into hazy shapes before solidifying and gaining color and light. A rectangular, dark mahogany table forms in the center of them; Three's hands and Five's feet are already resting on the table before it forms and chairs grow underneath them, the image appearing with water like seeping motions from where they sit.

With each step light seeps away from where his foot lands, showing and forming a hard concrete floor that echoed each of his footsteps. When the floor was completely created the light crawls upward to the walls, metallic gray walls that held a single window on opposite wall of the door in the large square room. The window was a rectangular vortex, the empty darkness stayed there. The ceiling was the same metallic gray of the walls.

He reached the empty space at the head of the table, opposite of Three. Alfred- no, here he is Zero- stands for a second, observing them all. One is on his left, giving him a sympathetic look. Five, on his right, just gives him a cold look and a nod before glaring at the ceiling. On One's left Two nods at him with his ever unreadable expression before folding his hands on the table and becoming robotically still. Four, on Three's left and Five's right nods at him sits in an upright fetal position. He clutches his legs to his chest and looks slightly fearful but gives him a quick smile.

He sits and a chair forms below him. Zero looks directly ahead of him into Three's icy eyes and gives a small nod. Three barely even responds, simply acknowledging him with an emotionless look directly into his eyes. Time for the meeting.

"Five, placing footwear on a table is unacceptable," Three never moved, only his eyes moving in a robotic fashion to look at Five who growled but took them off. Seeing the imperfection corrected he now address him, "Zero, informatively elucidate the happenstance of the previous hour's event."

Zero clasped his hands on the table in front of him and looks at them as they have suddenly become so extremely interesting. His pose mimics Two's. Finally, after a second or an eternity, he speaks, "We were playing Black Ops when I kept on failing at it… And Five was getting frustrated with me… And then, I wasn't in control anymore."

Three watched him emotionlessly the entire time, "Perhaps Five would enjoy further enlightening your ever so illuminating explanation with an accompaniment of his individual perspective."

Five snorted and gave an almost playful glare to the both of them, "You really are a control freak, you know? You just word it prettily."

Three simply continued staring at him so he huffed and continued.

"Well, since Zero was being such an-"

"Language," Three snapped.

"Yes, your highness. He was being so lame at the game that I was getting really frustrated with him, as he said. So I got the… I don't know how to describe it, a feeling, maybe? Well, I got the feeling to reach out and snatch the remote from him. And, I guess, I did for a second, it really happened all too fast for me to get what was happening. But I got some totally _sweet_ kills in anyway. Then he took back control and it was all over."

"If I am assuming correctly, in the short time period subsequent, One," Three nodded at One, "had then arrived to deliver my summoning."

It really wasn't a question, Three was wrong about zero point one times in an infinity.

Yet he still mumbled, "Yeah…"

Two finally spoke, still completely unmoving except for opening his mouth to speak, but not even moving his lips.

"Well, then, this is… interesting…"

"It's dangerous," Zero hissed, angry that they don't understand the gravity of this situation. How many lives were at stake with Five or even Three running loose.

Still looking down at his hands Two responded, "Dangerous, maybe, but for who is the question?"

"Everyone!" He screamed, "The nations, their people, _our_ people, everyone! You guys remember what happened the last time I let one of you fully take over!"

"But, Al- Zero. That's the thing between you and us…" One gave him a pained smile, eyes sympathetic, "Not everyone is going to get hurt."

"Like who?" Zero snapped at him, slightly crazed. The last time, the last time he let them take control… So many had died… And it had all been his fault.

"_We're _not going to get hurt, are we?"

The entire table looks at him, Zero, the main personification of America. But he's only one against five. In this house the only difference in their physical features enhanced as the blue drained out of their eyes. It left One's eyes a bright green, Two's a feline yellow, Three's a silvery white, Four's a bloody red, and Five the black orbs of darkness.

They had been trapped in the house, in the back of his mind for centuries, only out in the real world for ever so short amounts of time. And so it struck him, as it had many times in the past, but only this time he couldn't ignore it, they simply _didn't care_ about the world. Even if they entered reality their mind would never comprehend it, or maybe they would but it wouldn't matter to them.

He looks straight back at them, his eyes the same bright blue that they always were, in or outside his mind.

"No, you wouldn't."

"And that's the thing, right?" One said softly, reaching a hand towards him but stopped as Zero stood up, sweeping one last glance at them all. One smiled as regret laid behind the green irises, but that didn't matter because it shared space with eagerness. Two was unreadable and his eyes held no comfort but not reproach either, indifferent and uncaring. Three's eyes were emotionless but calculating, analyzing his every move, every motive, searching- hunting for weaknesses. Four gave a sort of childish smile, and Zero didn't know if he actually understood the situation but rather was scared of the atmosphere. And Five watched coolly but not coldly, raising an eyebrow.

A challenge.

But instead he turns and runs out of the room.

Because, with them, challenges mean death.

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia. **

**It seems that England won that little vote from the last chapter with Sealand as a second and Italy as a third. Since I can't write Sealand, let it be England and Italy, thank you for your support!**

**Okay, this is a little confrontation between the personalities, personally I don't really like this chapter because I felt that my feelings were conveyed poorly, but it's the best I can do.**

**Oh! And just to throw it out there, guess who's the Confederacy!**


	9. Consolations

**Consolations**

They found him in a field, conjured of old memories. It expanded on all sides and green, very green grass swayed prettily on soft wind below open skies. It was a mental recreation of the field England had first found him in. But at the very edge of his eyes and far in the distance it becomes the eternal darkness that was his mind. It was and will always be simply an illusion.

"Hey, Alfred," One came up behind him, Four close behind. They stayed a distance back, not touching him.

Alfred didn't say anything. He sat with one leg on the ground and holding the other to his chest, facing away from them. One hand absentmindedly tore up the grass while the other wrapped around his leg.

"Alfie?" Four reached out to touch him but stopped short when One shook his head, "Did we be bad? We no mean to, I no mean to. I sorry you sad."

There was another silence before Alfred took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, "It's just… you guys don't really know the extent of what you're wishing for, do you?"

One gave a dry laugh, dark humor brightening his already bright eyes, but now some blue had seeped back into the green irises, "Why should we? We've been locked in here for the majority of our lives."

Alfred flinched while One continued.

"People out there don't matter to us, and it's not like we'll ever even need to know them. Besides, even if we did understand to some extent-"

"Why would you care?" Alfred finished off for him. He finally turned around and they could see sadness in the sky blue eyes.

"I'm telling it as it is, Alfred," One said, but with no malice at all in the blunt words.

"That's the problem, One."

Four lifted his arms in the universal sign for asking for a hug. Alfred leaned over and hugged him, looking over the identical body to One, who walked closer and briefly embraced the both of them with Four in the middle. He withdrew and then it was just Four still hugging him. The sleeved arms were comforting even if they could offer no real protection.

"Don't be sad, Alfie. We no want hurt you."

Alfred smiled, "I know you would never. Intentionally."

One offered him a small smile, "It's true, Al. Not even Five would."

"Mmm," Alfred rubbed part of Four's back with the pads of his fingers, knowing that an old burn scar was there. He really should have been more careful… "Most of the time…"

"You want go back now?" Four asked, his red eyes, now infused slightly with blue, looked up innocently at him, "Thwee and Two were worwy abwout you."

"Really now?" Alfred looked at One, who shrugged.

"In their own, weird sort of way."

Alfred chuckled to himself, still hugging Four. Whenever Two was worried about one of them he would begin tapping out a rhythm and look at One or Alfred to go comfort them. It came off as rather cold, but Alfred found that Two was concerned with making things worse with his inability and unwillingness to show what he's really thinking and feeling.

Three, also, rarely went to comfort others himself. Sympathy was something he couldn't afford, even to his other personifications, or brothers, as they called themselves. Instead he'd do barely noticeable but kind things, small comforts of compassion. Softening words, little notes with words he'd never say aloud, and sometimes baking little pastries with the love he'll always deny.

Five, on the other hand…

"How's Five?" Alfred asked.

One winced visibly and he felt Four flinch a little. The childish personification then unwrapped himself from Alfred and lay down, eagle-spread on the incredibly realistic illusion of grass. He stared straight up into the blue sky above them, perhaps trying to find where the sky ended and the illusion faded.

"He's… training again. You might want to stay away from him for a while."

"Sure," He'd have to go talk to Five later.

* * *

They walked in companionable silence through the field. They were heading towards the small slit of blackness all the way towards the end of the illusion. However, with each step, the end illusion remained at the same distance from them. Yet if one ignore that fact, it really was like walking through a meadow. And a perfect one at that. No bugs were there to annoy them and the lush, full greenery was devoid of branches or dead plant growth to trip them or disturb the scene. To their right, beautiful woods, much like the one found in fairy tales, swayed in the soft breeze.

He walked quietly with One, carrying Four piggy-back style for he had fallen asleep in the grass earlier. Soft snores and murmurs emitted from the crimson eyed personification.

Finally the outline of the house appeared from the black gap at the end of their vision. However, saying it was a house was an understatement. A gleaming white marble mansion stood among a perfectly manicured lawn on a leveled hill. A large fountain with a statue of America himself stood in the center, spewing water making elaborate patterns around it. Alfred sighed, as he did every time he saw it. Two, who had designed the entire mansion, could get vain at times.

A paved driveway circled the fountain, extending outwards towards them, and, as they watched, it paved itself and the road made its way past them. As they looked ahead, the house assembled itself from blackness, brick by brick, column by column. In all truth, it looked like watching a video of the creation of a house sped up. Think History Channel style.

Columns lined up on either side of the great wooden doors, extending from the top to the bottom of the twenty feet tall first floor. Windows looked out from above and behind the columns and the marble structure extended on either side. The mansion had five floors above ground and several more below.

However, as it was his mind they were in, the space inside never made sense. Something that would appear as a broom closet could be the size of the White House when inside. The house's layout was confusing because of it. He liked to name it after a magical castle in one of England's books, Hogwarts.

It took a while but they finally made it to the front doors, at this time Four had woken up and already ran inside. Alfred hesitated before opening the door. A hand landed on his shoulder and he looked back to see One smile at him.

"C'mon, we go swimming later, if you want."

Alfred smiled back and nodded, "Sounds fun."

One opened the door and gesture for him to go in, "After you, Al."

"Aren't you the gentleman?" Alfred chuckled, crossing the threshold.

"Meh, Two's the one who really gets into that stuff. See you soon?"

"I'm keeping you to that offer of swimming."

"I know. Good luck with Five."

"I'll need it."

"May the Force be with you."

"Star Wars. There's other movies to quote from, you know."

"Meh."

They parted ways, One headed down a small hall behind a hidden door while Alfred made his way down the enormous entrance hall.

Silver and grey arches and columns are planted in regular intervals on either side of him. After the long trip down, he finds himself in a room even larger than the hall. Elegant staircases wind down on either sides of another great oak door, behind, he knew, was a ballroom of great proportions.

It was a very beautiful house, but cold, extremely so. There were no pictures or objects or trinkets that showed if people were really living in here. The temperature was kept very low, usually around 50º Fahrenheit. The blue, silver, white, and light gray color scheme reminded Alfred of Three's eyes… Cold and professional at best, inhospitable and apathetic at worst. At the very corner of his eyes he could see the ever present darkness swirling away at the ends of this pretty image of a mansion.

Footsteps caught his attention and he looked up to see Two coming down from the balcony above the stairs. Neither of them say a word as Two continued going down the stairs. He walked straight from the staircase to Alfred, stopping at a distance where their noses were little more than a foot from each other.

Two lifted an eyebrow at him, eyes as unreadable as ever.

"I'm fine," Alfred mumbled, looking away from the feline yellow eyes.

Two only stood there, unmoving. Tense silence holds in between them, but this is the usual with Two. Finally the other personification raised his hand and snapped his fingers, making Alfred instinctively look at him. Using the hand he snapped with, his right hand, he pressed his index and middle fingers parallel to his lips before pressing the fingers to Alfred's forehead.

Without explaining the action at all, he gently brushed past Alfred, a hand finding his to give a folded note. Steps echoed in the silent hall for a too short time, and when Alfred looked around Two was nowhere to be seen although there were no places to hide or disappear to. Alfred didn't even bother to wonder about what had just happened, used to the silent man's antics. Instead he unfolded and read the small note. Two's beautiful calligraphy greeted his eyes.

_Cooking is good for the soul._

_Remember to hydrate yourself. (That means drink water.)_

_I'll join you two for swimming._

_P.S. Don't drown. It'd be troublesome to get you back to solid ground._

Alfred read the letter. Then reread it. And reread it again.

It was so like Two that it wasn't even funny. He could even hear the sarcasm on the second line.

He wondered who told Two about One and him going swimming, but pushed it out of his mind. Two was just strange most of the time. As for the rest of the note… Well, experience had shown him that he'll just have to wait a while until the meaning became clear. Whether that it be within minutes or days or even years.

* * *

He had walked up the stairs, taking his time and running his hand along the handrail. When he got to the top he slowly crossed the balcony to the doors behind. Slipping inside, he found a long hallway, perpendicular to the door and lined with one way mirrors. The mirrors allowed him to look down into the ballroom without being seen. He walked the perimeter of the room until he found the door he was looking for, a gray, modern one that lead into the meeting room they used the most often.

Before opening the door, he glanced behind him into the one-way mirror that hid him from the empty ballroom. His gaze searched through the ballroom, taking in the grand piano and lifted stage and the bar in the corner. The ceiling, above even the level he was at, arched into a mostly glass dome with a large chandelier coming down from it.

It was beautiful and large and would probably be wonderful for conducting parties or balls with hundreds of people during day or night or both. But only five, sometimes six people lived in this house. The sheer vastness of the mansion made it all the more intimidating and lonely.

Tearing his eyes away from the surprisingly sad scene of the ballroom, he opened the door and went inside. It was the same room as he had been in at first. However, the design was more elaborate this time as one of them had willed it back into perfection. At first it had been an emergency meeting and they only used a simple design in the short time they had.

The room was large and imposing, much different from how it was at first. It extended for a good bit then dipped down a couple of steps into a lower platform where a long holographic war table stood in front of a missing wall. The missing wall was the one farthest from where Alfred was standing now, the darkness was held at bay there. Just all consuming blackness.

By experience that he would rather forget, he knew that when his physical body was awake the darkness would be replaced by whatever his eyes were seeing. They, whoever was inside the house, would be able to get into his mind by crossing into it. Other than that they could just watch what he was doing. Unless he didn't want them to, of course. They wouldn't, and couldn't, intrude on his privacy…

Still, the walls were a metallic gray and lined with uniform sized screens, relaying information in many different languages. Futuristic computers lined the upper platform, holograms, interactive screens, and many other devices that were just fantasy to most other people. It was all the inventions that Three could make, should he be able to go out. The technology in here was decades beyond anything in this time on Earth.

His footsteps echoed on the metal floor as he crossed the upper platform to the stairs.

Three was sitting on the end of the table, examining several holographs that coming out of the table. He didn't acknowledge Alfred until the other man came down the short stairs and sat on the seat directly to his right.

"Have you completed your session of guilt induced anguish?" Three didn't grace him with any acknowledgement besides the blunt words, his hands still controlling the holographs.

"For now," Alfred said just as bluntly back.

"In optimistic expectation, for me, you have assured our brothers of your temporary recovery," It was strange how Three, the least caring of the others, was always the one to most freely refer to them as brothers. Alfred wasn't sure why he did so, but he and the others thought it was because it was the most affectionate name he could bestow them without sounding too affectionate.

"I did," He answered.

Finally Three looked at him, albeit a swift and calculating glance. His silvery eyes locked onto Alfred's blue ones. They always gave Alfred the chills, his eyes. Usually the blue in his silver-gray eyes made his irises look more or less normal, but the way they flashed in the light made them appear to be blank alien eyes with their disappeared irises. They were the scariest of all their eyes, even compared to the cat's eye yellow that colored Two's irises or the all consuming black vortex that was Five's. As for Four's blood red eyes… they were too childish and innocent for the most part…

"Five wishes for you to accompany him for a short 'talk' as soon as possible. He is currently in the exercise room training, as always. I suggest you be expeditious in speed to rendezvous with him."

"Okay, thanks," Alfred got up; the conversation was clearly over, even if he didn't have an angry Five waiting for him.

As he stood and turned to leave he felt something be pressed to his lips, his hands raise and grabs the object. He lifts it to see… a hamburger. It was one of those homemade, grilled to perfection type of hamburgers with actually fresh vegetables and proper cheese melted onto it. He spun around to see Three still doing work on the holographs, this time slowly spinning a holograph of the Earth and marking several cities. Three hated to eat hamburgers, let alone cook them…

"Thank you," Alfred mumbled, trying to figure out what was going on in Three's mind.

"Five has been anticipating your arrival for an unchivalrous amount of time. I advise you to hasten your departure."

Despite the cold words, Alfred smiled to himself as he left the room.

* * *

Alfred stood at the side of the exercise room, tensely watching Five beat up the blue punching bag in the center of the room. Well, what he could see of the room. The ever present darkness almost completely wrapped around the entirety of the room. The only things that formed in it were two punching bags that hung from the ceiling, the immediate ground that Five and Alfred were standing on, and the door from which he came in. The rest was only darkness.

Evidently Five didn't bother to form the rest of the room and Alfred wasn't going to either. Alfred watched mutely as Five beat the punching bag with his bare fists. Five believed that gloves were for weaklings.

The tension was nearly palpable as Five continued to train and the _thuds_ of the bag being hit were the only things keeping the silence from being all consuming.

Finally Five stopped and, without looking at him, much like Three, he motioned to the other punching bag, a red one, a clear indication for Alfred to train as well.

Alfred approached the bag and more of the floor appeared as he walked. Gently he pushed the bag to get the feel of it. The inside was made of solid metal. Slight padding covered the metal, but not nearly enough to protect his hands from breaking or chapping. Alfred wasn't fazed, though, this was Five's usual training. Plus, if he got hurt in this house it wouldn't affect his physical body, though he could get sore.

He didn't know how much time passed as they both hit the bags, but he noticed Five putting more and more power into each punch until one particularly hard blow forced his punching bag to break off from where it hung in the ceiling with a cracking sound and the punching bag, its chain, and part of the ceiling flung off into the darkness.

Alfred continued punching his own.

Five stood looking at where the punching bag had disappeared for a while before turning and holding Alfred's bag, preventing it from swinging.

The black eyes locked onto the blue ones and he said curtly, "You ran away."

"I can't go against all five of you," Alfred said, looking him directly in the eye.

"So? You ran away. That says something about you."

"That I'm smart enough to know when to retreat?"

"Don't get smart on me, Zero," Five glared at him and stepped closer, pushing the punching bag away. He jabbed a finger into Alfred's chest, "You could have stayed and you should have. Show us your worth, survival of the fittest as they say."

Alfred continued looking at him straight in the eye even though he couldn't do that with the others. Five always brought out the stronger, more defiant side in him, for better or worse, "That or win a Darwin Award."

Five took his hand back as his eyes narrowed, "The others were worried about you," At this he rolled his eyes in mild contempt.

"I told them I was fine."

"So did I."

Now it was Alfred's turn to glare at him, "You know what? You are a jerk. What makes you think that you're better than everyone else? What would you do in my place for all this?"

"I wouldn't back down. I would actually fight until I win," Five scoffed, a certain gleam in his eyes.

"Until the land is burned and salted and you're surrounded by the dead, sounds like you."

"Don't get all poetic, that's what we have Two for."'

"We have him for a lot of things."

"I know."

Neither of them said anything until Five sighed and put his hands on Alfred's shoulders.

"If you want my advice, here it is: keep moving forward, don't forget, but never regret, and survive. That's really the only advice I can give you."

Alfred snorted before softening his glare and he smiled slightly, "Thanks Five."

Then, without warning, he launched himself at Five in a hug, wrapping his arms around Five's shoulders.

"Get off me!"

"Make me!"

Five put his hands on Alfred's waist, trying to push him off. Alfred just laughed, knowing it annoyed Five to no end and the other man wouldn't hurt one of them.

"Hug therapy, Five!"

"Don't pull an Italy on me!"

"Am I interrupting a moment?" Both of them turned to see Two standing in the doorway, the ever unreadable expression on his face. He said in a completely flat voice, "You can continue, I'll just wait."

Five roughly pushed Alfred off of him, "We weren't doing anything!"

"I don't mind, really," Two said, "I should have knocked, my apologies."

"No, seriously, we weren't doing anything!" Alfred protested.

"It's fine," Two said in his deadpan tone that he always uses, the one without any inflections, "I fully support the two of you as long as it doesn't keep me up at night."

"No- what? No!" Alfred spluttered as the rest of the sentence processed in his mind.

"Don't lie, Alfred, it's a sin. I just wanted to tell you that One and I are waiting at the pool. I will leave now so you two can… finish up," He said impassively, then gave a short bow and left.

Alfred looked at Five, "Was he joking?"

"I don't know."

They then said simultaneously, "He's Two."

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia, History Channel, Hogwarts, or Star Wars.**

**Yes! My longest chapter to date! This was the first time I actually tried putting description in my writing, I hope I conveyed it correctly.**

**Okay, I've been trying to explain Three's eyes, and I think I got it. Have any of you seen "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"? You know the part at the beginning when his mother dies and her eyes go all weird from spasming? It's kind of like that.  
**

**Also, I know that we haven't seen many of the other nations yet, I'm sorry for that but I'm trying to give you guys a sense of how the personalities are. As for the Confederacy, there was more than one of them that became it. There was actually two of the personalities in the Confederacy, one main one and a helper. And, just to eliminate one factor, Two is ALWAYS neutral.  
**

**Challenge time: I'm trying to start new stories and update all my existing ones on New Years. I'm trying to get as many people as possible to update and start new stories on the week of New Years, can any one join me in this?  
**

**Please review, I just spent all of today and yesterday on this.  
**


	10. Interlude: Dreams of Burning Part 1

**Interlude: Dreams of Burning Part 1**

Canada watched with undisguised glee as his "brother's" beloved White House burned. America should have known not to mess with the Canadian man, especially on his own land. It was exhilarating, doing what Alfred had done right back to him, but still, Matthew winced, trailing his hand to the fresh burn scar over his heart; it was almost vulgar what his brother had done. Not only had he started a war but he went against the rules of war and attacked private property and innocent civilians.

And he wasn't entirely sure if it was Alfred.

* * *

_Alfred hadn't seemed like himself at the time. The man who had marched into York holding a torch and a maniacal smile didn't act like Alfred at all with his harsh, forced laughs and cruel, taunting words. That man was a monster, as he had even freely admitted to while chuckling and agreeing with every name that Canada had spat at him while writhing on the ground as the smell of smoldering human flesh filled the air. _

_He stood near Matthew while 'enjoying the show' as Alfred had crudely put it. The entire time his eyes had been hidden by the fire reflecting on his glasses whereas Canada's own had fallen off on the ground some time ago. The only good thing that Matthew could say about this new America was that he didn't do the… horrendous things… that England had warned him about when countries invaded one another. _

_Matthew watched as American soldiers committed arson to the buildings all around him and as they plundered and looted his beloved city. Newly formed screams tore from his throat at the nearly identical blond who had merely gave him a malicious smile and continued snickering; even confirming that what he was doing broke the unspoken laws of war. _

_To took quite a while, in Alfred's words, but at one point his body gave out from the convulsions and his throat had ripped open from screaming and the most he could do was give a weak, but loathing glare towards Alfred. America, in turn, walked over and kicked over Matthew's body so the man was on his back with Alfred's foot holding his chest down with the sole of his shoe grazing over the new burn wounds._

_It was only when he spoke did Canada realize something was seriously off._

_"Tell me, Canada,"_ _He leered down on the trapped nation, "Tell me, does this hurt?"_ _The sole of the shoe pushed down onto his burned, destroyed skin and Canada screamed in pain before the pressure was taken off._

_Violet eyes glowered into the ominously glaring glasses while he coughed out, "I hate you."_

Who are you?

_"Oh, that's fine with me,"_ _He spoke lightly, almost cheerily if not for the malevolent undertones, "You can hate me all you want and I doubt I'd care. But you shouldn't hate Alfred, he was against this."_

_"What the hell are you talking about?" Matthew snarled at him._

You're not Alfred.

_ This didn't seem to faze the man at all, then again, he was in the advantageous position and instead stomped on him once more, "I don't know, but what I do know is that if I had my way you would be in so much more pain then you're in now…"_ _He had leaned down, shifting position so he was kneeling next to Matthew, and grabbed the collar of his shirt, holding their faces closer together. Something seemed off about Alfred's eyes but before Canada could figure out what his face was facing the smoke filled sky and America's mouth was directly beside his ear. Matthew felt a tingle of fear run down his back, "If it was up to me then you wouldn't even be able to talk, much less insult me. But I won't because I have a headache now, you know why?" He drew back and gave Matthew an almost insane grin while the flames reflected off his glasses, once again hiding the blue irises._

_Matthew shook his head slowly, close to paralyzed with fear._

You're not my brother.

_"It's because, Mattie,"_ _Canada was shaking at this point and America seemed to notice this for the smile had turned crazier as he tapped his temple and whispered, "They're telling me not to. You know, the voices in my head. They're always arguing and I don't know how Alfred deals with it. It's more than enough to drive people-"_ _Only now did the reflection in his glasses disappear, but a black abyss replaced it and seemed to attempt to draw Canada's soul into its endless vacuums- "absolutely _i_n__**s**_a_n_**e**…"

Get away from me!

_Matthew was spared whatever would have came next when an oh-so-familiar and thoroughly welcome voice called over, "Canada!"_

_The relief he had felt was incomparable to anything he'd felt before. He always knew that America was a little weird, but this had been borderline insane, scratch that, it had been completely insane. Desperately he screamed back, though the action reopened the damage in his throat, "England! ENGLAND! OVER HERE!"_

_Alarmed green eyes locked onto terrified violet ones and England ran over, swiftly taking up his musket and aiming it towards America's back, "AMERICA! Let go of him! This was only between you and me! What has he done to you?"_

_Canada still couldn't see America's face as it was back over his shoulder and now resting on it, at some point his hands had loosened their grip on his collar and were now wrapped around his shoulders. Heaves wracked the chest pressed against him and for a moment Canada thought that America was crying until the harsh, uncontrolled laughter filled the air and America stood up, bringing Matthew's immobile form with him. The former turned and turned Canada so the slimmer man was in front of him, directly in the fire of England's musket should he shoot._

_"Well," Alfred laughed, looking at England without concern, "Alfred says 'hi.' And some choice words to me."_

_England glared,_ _"Let go of him!"_

_"Why?"_ _The lunatic chuckled, drawing Matthew even closer to him, "What has the world come to when I can't even hug my brother's so called 'brother?'"_

_Fingers curled and clawed into his already damaged skin and Canada screamed once again, writhing against the body he was pressed to. England was screaming with him but Matthew couldn't hear him. The fingers retracted from his flesh and he slumped forward, utterly defeated._

_"Ugh, Alfred's telling me to stop,"_ _He sighed and adjusted their position so he could rub his temple with the hand that wasn't stained with blood, _"_And I think he actually means it this time. What a pest, a promising pest, but still a pest."_

_England was screaming again, trying to aim his pistol but knowing very well that if he shot then it could easily be Matthew who would the take the bullet, "What the bloody hell? He's you're bloody brother, you bastard! What did he ever do to you?"_

_"Nothing, really,"_ _Canada felt him shrug, "But all's fair in hate and war. Besides, he's Alfred's brother, not mine. He's about as much my brother as you are."_

_"What do you mean by-"_

_"What do you think I mean by that? Hmm… You know, I really should have attacked Kingston in actuality, you know, where all your ships are... Whatever, too late to worry about that now- DAMMIT ALFRED, SHUT UP!" He screamed the last part, throwing Matthew harshly to the ground, hard enough that the Canadian was sure something cracked, to clasp his hands over his ears. England and Canada stared in fear as he seemed to go through a violent argument with himself or 'Alfred' as he called him. Finally he seemed to win the feud and turned back to the other nations, he glared at Matthew, "I wasn't supposed to burn this place, you know, they're probably going to kill me when I go back. Or at least try to."_

_"Who are you?"_ _England asked, his gun pointing, once again, at America, who just broke into an insane smile and a glint entered the midnight blue eyes. _

_"Why me? I'm America."_

* * *

"This is going to be a problem…"

"He blocked us! HE BLOCKED US! WHY CAN'T I SEE-"

"Alfred, calm down-"

"DON'T YOU F-"

"I highly recommend refraining from unnecessary profanity."

"Go **** yourself. That's my ******* BROTHERS OUT THERE AND YOU'RE ALL JUST SITTING AR-"

"There's nothing we can do."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S-"

"There's nothing we can ever do."

Silence.

* * *

_Green and midnight blue eyes glared at each other one with frightened, almost disgusted anger and the other brimming with a sadistically joyful type of hate. England snapped._

_"Go. NOW! I don't know who you are but I know you're not America."_

_"I don't like being ordered around. Especially by- Great, I'm not allowed to curs-"_

_"Get the hell away from here you bloody insane wanker or I'll-"_

_"You'll what? Shoot me? I'd like to see you try,"_ _America scoffed, rolling his eyes._

_Anger gleamed in Arthur's own as he hissed out, "You think I wouldn't? I went easy on you during your blasted Revolution but I swear if you think I'll do so again you have another thing coming."_

_"I'm sure I will,"_ _America chuckled in a condescending manner,_ _"Or at least whichever one of my... brothers... that'll replace me... Ah well, I wish I could stay for longer but they're calling me back as we speak... And I haven't even had much fun, t-"_

_A bullet shot past Alfred just as he swiftly leaned over to one side, leaving a bloody gash deep in his cheek. Both Arthur's and Matthew's eyes widened, Arthur _never _missed a shot. Even worse, they both knew he had actually been aiming to kill, something not taken lightly by nations even when accounting their immortality._

_Alfred, meanwhile, looked almost surprised, as though he thought that England wouldn't shoot him. His hand drifted to his cheek in a preoccupied fashion and the only things heard was Arthur's heavy breathing and the distant crackling of the flames. His fingers brushed his cheek and the tip of his index finger purposely slipped into the gash, further opening it. Alfred didn't even seem to be with them any more as the tensions mounted to a nearly tangible feeling. Without warning he plunged the entirety of his index and middle finger into the open wound, slackening his jaw as he did so as the fingers evidently entered his mouth. Blood spurted from his face and trailed down his face and hand but he paid no heed to the spreading crimson liquid that stained is clothes._

_Meanwhile England was gaping at him and Matthew wanted desperately to scream, but the sound caught in his throat as Alfred drew his fingers back out and examined the blood coating them with wide eyes._

_"You… you actually… you actually shot me," He whispered in a trance, turning his fingers over as the blood covering them dripped down his hand._

_"Alfred…" England trailed off before shaking his head and replacing his face with a cold charade, "I shot you and I'll shoot again if you don't leave now. And this time I won't miss."_

_The words were biting and cold but they didn't seem to affect the sunshine blond man at all; he continued to stare down at his fingers, the blood had dried from the heat of the fire that was miraculously still blazing. His body was shaking again, "You shot me. You shot me! I didn't th- You actually-" He fell onto the ground, holding his maimed cheek in one and grasping the ground in the other. Incomprehensible words tumbled from his mouth._

_England looked on in disgust, wondering when his ex-brother had turned so weak. His eyes flicked towards Canada, the young man had propped himself up with his arms but it was evident that the fire and America's morbid administrations were taking a dreadful toll on him. In all truth the British man was impressed that he wasn't already dead to the world with eyes glazed in unbearable pain as… or at the very least thrashing and flailing from the terrible pain of having his capitol burned. Indeed the lad was very strong in the face of this disgraceful attack; his eyes narrowed as they focused on the perpetrator of the attack who was trembling on the ground like the scum he was all because of a little cut._

_In a scathing tone he hissed between clenched teeth, "Now go. Never let me see your face a-"_

_"You've got balls, man."_

_He was swiftly cut off as the now clear and mocking voice interrupted him. His eyes widened in alarm as the not even midnight blue but black eyes locked onto his. With a sickening type of clarity he realized that the younger man had not been crying but once again laughing. The taller man stood up as the insane smile split his face once more, except only this time it literally tore the skin on his cheek apart and blood flowed gruesomely. Still laughing, the black eyes bore into the green, like an empty vortex._

_"Can't say I like you. At all,"America began._

_"Why thank you,"England snapped back on instinct before recoiling as though expecting an attack from this new America. _

_But the other man continued as though there were no interruption at all, "But I got to say you earned some respect… I didn't actually think you'd shoot,"He chuckled, "Guess you have a back bone after all. Maybe I even underestimated you… Nah. Now,"His voiced suddenly hardened,"put down the gun."_

_England blinked, surprised at the sudden change, "What?"_

_"Put. Down. The. Gun. Now,"America hissed and quicker than any of them could comprehend he had leapt over to and snatched up Canada while drawing a blade from the pockets of his coat in one fluid motion. He quickly had Canada against him once again, effectively blocking him from any stray bullets. But this time a blade was running, skimming over the tender flesh of his neck and leaving the odd shallow cut and nick. England hesitated but didn't yet drop the pistol to America's consternation. The blade swept down to Matthew's collar bone and then pressed into the porcelain skin, drawing out red, "Just put the gun down. Or do you think little Mattie's here not in enough pain? 'Cause I whole heartedly agree."_

_As if to punctuate the statement he drove the blade partway into Canada's shoulder, forcing the man to scream as muscle and flesh gave way to the cruel cold blade penetrated skin and began to twist inside of his shoulder._

_"ARTHUR!" The silky blond man screeched at the top of his longs, trying to struggle but at the same time trying to prevent the blade from going any deeper. _

_"Strong, aren't you?" America grinned before tightening his hold into a death grip. _

_"ENGLAND! ENGLAND! MAKE IT STOP! IT HUR-"_

_"STOP IT!" England screamed back, unable to see his colony in so much pain. He threw pistol to the ground, "Fine! Take it! Just let him go!"_

_"As you wish," He let go of the slimmer man and then shoved him into the ground. Black eyes didn't as much gleam as suck the light out of the surrounding space as they observed the two broken men in front of them, "Pathetic," he muttered under his breath but the tone changed to mocking as he spoke aloud once more, "But still, you earned my respect- or at least some of it… Maybe… Ah, well, au revoir as they say," he chuckled and stepped back- only to suddenly swing his leg back forward and kick Matthew. A sickening CRACK sound filled the air as several ribs were instantly caved in and the body was sent flying towards England, who struggled to catch it. Alfred grinned again then turned around and began to walk away, bringing a hand to his mouth he hollered, "C'mon boys! I'm done here! Move out!"_

_The last thing Matthew Williams would remember that day was the dark outline of his brother against the glare of flames and sheets of smoke. And somehow he knew that wasn't his brother._

* * *

**I do not own Hetalia.**

**Yeah, going to update on New Years. Yada-yada-yada. Wasn't that a lie?  
**

**Excuses: Family, health problems, school, procrastination, wrestling (only girl on the team! Sorry, I brag a lot...)  
**

**I'm not quite happy with this. It's this story's version of the War of 1812. There'll be a part 2 later.  
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**Tell me you can guess who this was. If not... well... Fail on my part.  
**

**Sorry to all those Canada fans for making him so weak. But in all truth, he's kinda having his capitol burned and then there's the insanity and super strength to deal with...  
**

**Review if you love, like, don't like, hate... maybe not hate...  
**


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